Entourage

In the stepped lecture hall, Liam was surrounded by children of various noble houses.

Ever since yesterday’s match against Dolph, the aristocrats have been shamelessly approaching him.

“Liam, you’re amazing!”

“You beat an upperclassmen, moreover it was the valedictorian Dolph of all people!”

“I guess real battle experience truly is different.”

As Liam was being praised, he was making a face that said he was enjoying this.

“It wasn’t much, he was just weak.”

The surroundings continued to praise Liam after he said so.

Wallace was watching this all from a distance, unlike yesterday, the noble children were blatantly kissing up to Liam.

“…immediately flocking towards the strong. It’s almost impressive seeing how honest they are.”

The general cadets in the classroom had bitter expressions on their faces as they watched this all occur.

Like Wallace, they were amazed at how quickly the nobles changed their attitudes.

(Just yesterday they were calling him a stupid redneck, but now they’re practically eating out of his hand.)

With Liam’s victory over Dolph, the aristocratic children who ridiculed him were now acting like his entourage.

(Hah… I miss elementary school.)

Back then Liam’s other friend Kurt was there too.

If he had come to the academy as well, then he surely would’ve kept such people away from Liam.

However, Kurt was the heir of the Baron Exner house, a family that had strong ties to the military.

Those kinds of houses always chose the academy to be their last destination in their training.

After graduating from elementary school, Kurt had enrolled into the university to prioritise getting his qualifications as an official.

The last reason being the fact that after he graduated from the military academy, there were plans for him to stay in the army beyond the minimum four years of service.

Thanks to that, Kurt was currently a university student and wasn’t here.

(Now that I think about it, he was quite depressed when he had to seperate from Liam.)

Kurt was despondent when Liam told him he was going to the military academy first.

Although he wanted to enroll into the academy together, it’s not like Liam could stay enlisted in the army forever.

He had already succeeded as the head of his house, he wasn’t an heir, and needed to return to govern his territory as soon as possible.

Wallace looked at Liam being praised by his surroundings.

“It’s ten years too early for an amateur without actual battle experience to win against me.”

To Liam who had said such things, his surroundings broke out in confusion saying, “A decade?” “It only takes ten years to get that strong?” “That’s surprisingly fast.”

At that moment– [Marie Sera Marian] burst into the classroom with her short purple hair.

That’s right, purple hair.

With features that could only be used to describe her as a beauty, she was a person whose style really stood out in the military academy full of men.

“I just heard the news, Lord Liam!”

As soon as she approached Liam, she grabbed his hands with shining eyes.

“…Marie?”

Marie continued to sing praises for Liam, completely oblivious to the troubled face he was making.

“You beat the valedictorian in a simulation battle! As expected of Lord Liam! This Marie here was unfortunately unable to see your gallant figure yesterday because that annoying instructor of mine was distracting me. If you had called me, I would’ve come running immediately!”

Wallace sighed.

(All of Liam’s knight’s sure are unique.)

Marie had also entered the academy with Liam.

The reason was so that she could obtain her knight qualifications.

However, even though her records had disappeared, Marie was actually a hero who was knighted over two thousand years ago.

So what would happen when such a person entered the academy?

–the military academy rarely received non-standard cadets, and didn’t really have any measures prepared to deal with individuals like that.

Separate from the general courses, there were classes made specifically to accommodate such non-standard people.

It was a place where those with strange talents were kept, in addition to those who were clearly falling behind.

In short, it was a place where the problem children were gathered, where all the instructors made to teach there were veterans.

Inside such a class, Marie refused to have her hair cut short on the very first day.

Naturally, the instructors ordered her to cut her hair anyway– and in response, Marie beat them all down with force, and even started lecturing them instead.

She ran her mouth saying, “So imperial instructors were people of only this level? I don’t think there’s anything you could possibly teach me,” in disappointment.

The instructors couldn’t win against her, and straight up expelling her would undermine their authority, making them look like they were being petty, so as a result of their troubles– they ended up asking Liam for help.

Liam, who had just had his head shaved said, “What? Even though I’m practically bald now, you’re complaining about cutting your hair short? Go get it cut already!” and the very next day, she reported to him sporting her new short hairstyle.

Seeing that, the instructors went, “What the hell did we even go through all that trouble for?” in open complaints that even the cadets could hear.

In any case, Marie was thrown into class full of problem children separate from Liam, and always tried to come up with reasons to see him.

He seemed to have become completely dispirited after seeing her though.

“I see. That’s quite a shame indeed. I understand, so Marie, you should go back to your classroom already.”

“No Lord Liam, I haven’t praised you nearly enough! If I don’t spread the word on how wonderful you are, that would be the greatest shame of this Marie’s life!”

Her eyes were bloodshot.

Marie then continued her praises of Liam, and all the guys who were acting like they were going to become Liam’s entourage pulled away.

“In the first place, it’s only natural for Lord Liam to be this wonderful, it’s an inevitability you have to acce–”

Wallace fell into thought after Marie started speaking.

(Hah… I really miss my days at the elementary school.)

◇ ◇ ◇

I like a good yes-man.

Dog-like people who always praise me will always be welcome in my book.

But when I look at Marie raving about in excitement in front of me…

I think differently.

Marie had bloodshot eyes as she yelled out in fervor, “Lord Liam is the embodiment of perfection!” and other things along those lines.

–I love people who fawn over me and give me lots of flattery, but this was just off-putting.

The same could be said for my head knight, Tia.

I’m sure that if I accidentally tripped, they’d compliment me and say, “As expected of Lord Liam!” even then.

Once things started to go that far, all their praises started to feel like they’re actually making fun of me instead.

–their words were empty.

“Lord Liam is a wonderful person!”

“…I see, that’s great. Now Marie, go back to your classroom already.”

“Why Lord Liam?!”

“Class will be starting soon.”

“Oh, but if it’s just something like that–”

“GO BACK ALREADY!”

“Y-yes!”

To spew out enough compliments to even be late for her next class, did she have any awareness as her position of my deputy knight at all?

Certainly, she was competent, but she seemed to have a few screws loose.

I dropped my shoulders as I saw Marie exit the classroom, but everyone else still seemed to be keeping their distance.

This is all because of Marie’s extreme behaviour.

I had finally gotten a group of henchmen together, but she ruined it.

Marie really was useless sometimes.

She didn’t know how to give praise in moderation, so she always ended up making me look like a fool.

Ah~ now my mood has been ruined.

◇ ◇ ◇

Secretly leaving the classroom was one of the cadets that had been surrounding Liam.

Marie, who was hiding behind the corner, called out to him as he tried to slip away in a tense state.

“Hey, classes are about to begin. Where do you think you’re going?”

The cadet opened his eyes in surprise, but immediately pulled out a knife from his pocket and lunged at her.

Grabbing his arm, Marie quickly pinned the assailant down onto the floor.

“…what were you going to do with that knife?”

“L-let go of me!”

Grabbing one of the cadet’s fingers, Marie smiled as she snapped it in the opposite direction the joint bent.

“Shi-!”

Seeing the cadet try to suppress his scream, Marie’s grin grew even wider.

“You give off the feeling of an amateur, so tell me– why did you approach Lord Liam?”

She snapped another finger, but the cadet didn’t answer her.

As he struggled to escape, a man clad in black while wearing an eerie mask rose up from the floor.

Marie wasn’t fazed by the sight, but the cadet was clearly frightened.

[Kukuri] had appeared.

He was a subordinate who protected Liam from the shadows.

“Marie, you might cause problems if you move on your own.”

“Kukuri, who does this person work for? Don’t tell me assassins of this degree are all the Berkley family has left.”

Kukuri broke into laughter at that comment.

“…no, he’s just one of the Lawrence house’s henchmen. He’s no assassin.”

“So he’s just one of Dolph’s pawns?”

When Marie broke another of the cadet’s fingers, the thug of the Lawrence house had a bitter expression on his face. It seems like he was unable to hide how upset he was that his employer was found out.

“Yes. It seems he forged his identity and infiltrated the academy. Everything about this man’s identity is false. He seems to have been placed here to help instill Dolph as the valedictorian.”

“I see, so that’s how it is…”

He collected information that Dolph could take advantage of while spreading rumours.

Apparently he was involved with various things, but from Kukuri and Marie’s perspective, it was all on the level of child’s-play.

Kukuri complained to Marie.

“Because he approached Lord Liam to collect information, I was trying to keep him under observation.”

“He approached Lord Liam with bad intentions. For that alone he deserves death. Am I wrong?”

Kukuri made a troubled gesture.

“I agree with you, but there’s also various circumstances to consider. I was only keeping him under watch because assassination didn’t seem to be his goal. Well, I guess it’s too late now. Let’s reveal this person’s true identity and report him to the army.”

“Huh, I can’t kill him?”

“You can, but then Dolph’s transgressions won’t come to light. Besides, we can always kill him whenever we want to.”

When Marie let go of the thug, Kukuri grabbed him as he started to sink into the floor.

The thug tried to scream, but he wasn’t able to call for help because Kukuri had muffled him.

After watching them disappear, Marie continued on her way to her classroom.

“…the academy sure has a lot of Lord Liam’s enemies.”

All hostiles who approached Liam were secretly taken care of by Marie and Kukuri.

◇ ◇ ◇

A few weeks later.

Unlike Liam, Dolph was surrounded by enemies on all sides.

“Damn it! All of them always treating me like a fool! This is all because of my subordinate’s incompetence!”

All of the cadets who served Dolph were exposed and detained by the academy.

They were all immediately expelled, and naturally, Dolph had to take responsibility for their actions as well.

However, his expulsion was acquitted because of his noble status.

Instead, his title of valedictorian was taken away.

His fast track through the military ranks was practically lost.

“What do I do? What the hell should I do?!”

The Lawrence house was a family that created many military personnel, so Dolph’s behaviour brought a lot of trouble to his relatives.

For this reason, he was currently being shunned by his family and couldn’t expect any help from them.

“…all of this is because of the Banfield house’s Liam. I was supposed to be a man who’d rise through the military ranks and become a marshal.”

Even though he’d done his best for that goal, all of his hard work had disappeared in an instant.

Dolph absolutely loathed Liam.

“I’ll never forgive you, Liam!”

The raging Dolph vowed to take revenge on Liam by any means necessary.